The revelations are set to trigger a howl of protests from environmentalists sensing betrayal at the hands of the self-serving Sierra Club where insiders cash in on kick backs from the natural gas frakking fraternity.

Farnan explains just how the Sierra Club's covert strategy actually works, "What better way of cornering the market and setting yourself up as the bully on the energy block than by knocking out or crippling your main competitor in the energy industry: Coal."

The story is yet another example of how double-dealing corporates behind Big Green actually operate – underhandedly advancing their preferred hydrocarbon fuel interests while publicly paying lip service to environmentalism.

Yet coal, as Ed points out, has been "the backbone for cheap energy that has fueled Americas amazing economic growth. Great improvements in technology, especially over the past 30 years have brought us to where you can look a modern coal fired power plant smoke stack and it is hard to tell whether it is burning or not."

Meanwhile Bryan Walsh, who first broke the story (Time: February 2, 2012), pinpoints how the scandal may cause yet untold harm to the Club’s relationship with corporations.

“The chapter groups and volunteers depend on the Club to have their back as they fight pollution from any industry, and we need to be unrestrained in our advocacy,” Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director since 2010, sums it up neatly for Time. “The first rule of advocacy is that you shouldn’t take money from industries and companies you’re trying to change.”